Arizona House panel OKs softened transgender bill

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PHOENIX (AP) — An Arizona House committee has voted to advance a new version of a bill that previously would have barred transgender people from using public bathrooms not associated with their birth gender.

Republican Rep. John Kavanagh changed his bill after a national civil rights group called it discriminatory. The new version no longer makes it a crime for a person to use a public bathroom not associated with their birth gender. Instead, it shields businesses if they don't allow their bathrooms or lockers to be used by transgendered people

The committee heard hours of testimony from transgendered men and woman who complained that even Kavanagh's revised bill was based on fear.

The bill advanced on a 7-4 party-line vote as the crowd broke out in chants of "shame, shame, shame."